


The Slytherins and The Second Chance

by Mr_Knight



Series: The Second Chance [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Fluff, Good Slytherins, Light Angst, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-14 05:22:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29662398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mr_Knight/pseuds/Mr_Knight
Summary: Four friends, a bottle of wine, and a wish.In hindsight, a mysterious bottle of wine and a drunken wish were not such a great idea.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Hermione Granger/Pansy Parkinson, Neville Longbottom/Theodore Nott, Ron Weasley/Blaise Zabini
Series: The Second Chance [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2179743
Comments: 7
Kudos: 73





	1. Wishful Wine

**Author's Note:**

> First time doing a time travel fic! Well sorta...
> 
> I hope you all enjoy this fic!

Cold. If one word could be used to describe the Malfoy Manor, it would be cold. At least that’s what Draco thought when he walked in. The manor’s grand hall was empty; most of the items had been removed in the Auror raid. Draco’s mom was long gone, having fled to France for her safety. She was attacked two hours after the trial, he had just managed to convince her to leave. She only left after he insisted he’d take care of himself. His mother’s ornate cabinet that had a collection of hand-crafted glass dragons had been smashed all over the floor. The cabinet was destroyed, the pieces of glass made crunching noises under his feet.

He knew it had been too much to hope for, but he had a small hope that these wouldn’t have been taken. They weren’t just broken like everything else right now.

The trials had been awful; all he could remember hoping for was that his mother and his friends wouldn’t go to Azkaban. They didn’t deserve it, and he could care less about his well-being. He still couldn’t believe Potter himself had defended him. Not only that but also his mother, his father, was not so fortunate.

_He deserved it_ , was all Draco could think when he thought about his father. That man deserved every bit of punishment for what he had put his own family through. _Who gives a shit about blood purity when they threaten to give your son to a crazed werewolf if he didn’t listen to a mad man who had lost his mind?!_ Draco’s resentful thoughts about his father consumed him. He hoped that his mother would be able to cope without him, she loved him, or maybe she loved a different man than what his father had become.

He was startled out of his inner turmoil from the sound of the door opening. Footsteps echoed through the hall as the footsteps came closer to him before stopping. They were apprehensive; he didn’t bother to turn around as he already knew who they were.

“Draco?” a timid voice called out; he stood still, afraid to face them, “Please look at me, Draco,” the voice pleaded; Draco turned around to see his three friends, Pansy Blaise, and Theodore. 

“Hello Pansy,” he greeted, his voice noticeably defeated; when Draco saw her, Blaise, and Theo, all he could think was how awful his friends looked. All of them were noticeably thinner—no doubt due to the mistreatment from the Aurors.

Poor Pansy looked close to tears; she walked over to him and took him into a hug. Tears began to fall from his face as he hugged her back. “Oh Draco, we were so worried about you. We were sure they were going to send you to Azkaban!” Pansy cried tears, finally giving way as she held him.

Blaise and Theo walked over, joining Pansy in hugging Draco, “We were shocked to learn Potter had spoken up for you,” Blaise whispered, his voice shook with worry, “Theo and I were sure they were just going to mot give you a trial at all,”

“Yeah, it was a bit mind-boggling to learn that Potter had defended you and your mother,” Theo said, “But forget Potter, I’m just glad you are okay,” 

Draco could hear himself sob, thanking whatever force that had given him such good friends, “I’m so sorry, I should have been a better friend! Merlin, I was awful during sixth year! I’m so sorry I don’t know how you are still my friends after all the horrible things I’ve done!” Draco sobbed, hugging Pansy tighter while basking in the warmth his friends provided.

“We’ve all messed up Draco…” Theo whispered sadly, “We’ve all made mistakes…”

“Please don’t blame yourself Draco, we were children who didn’t know any better. We blindly followed our parents who couldn’t move past their prejudice against muggleborns,” Pansy remarked, determined, she pulled out of the hug and grabbed Draco’s shoulders, “We all made mistakes Draco, just like Theo said. We can’t be held responsible for our parent’s stupid mistakes!” Pansy reinforced, tears were still visible on her face.

Blaise looked over at Pansy, “When did you get so confident?”

“When I saw my best friends suffer,” Pansy answered, looking over and meeting Blaise’s eyes.

_I don’t deserve them,_ Draco thought, _I really don’t._

“Hey, Draco? Did the Aurors leave any of your family's wine?” Theo asked.

“Theo, now is not the time to get drunk!” Pansy chastised, “We have a friend here who is in desperate need of love!”

“I know, I know! I figured we could go up to Draco’s room with a bottle of wine like we used to, you know, back in fourth year when we’d snuck a bottle of wine during the holidays?” Theo suggested he looked over at Blaise for support.

Blaise nodded and piped in to try and convince Pansy, “Yeah, I think that’s a good idea! We could sit and just enjoy each other’s company, get our mind off things if only for just an hour or two,”

Pansy looked in between the two and shook her head, “Well, Draco? Does that sound like something you want to do?”

Draco thought that alcohol would certainly not fix things for a moment, but he was too tired to care and was only happy about the prospect of his friends staying with him. He nodded his head yes, “I don’t know if the Aurors left anything, but Theo and Blaise are welcomed to go look for some. But I think I’ll take Pansy up to my room, and we’ll wait for you two,” 

“Okay, boys, you heard him, feel free to check but don’t take too long,” Pansy said, she grabbed Draco’s hand and started walking towards his bedroom.

Theo and Blaise nodded, they watched Pansy take Draco upstairs to his bedroom. The two boys headed towards the Malfoy wine cellar.

* * *

“So… do you think he’ll be okay?” Theo asked Blaise as they walked down the stairs into the extensive cellar.

“Who Draco?” Blaise asked back.

“Well, duh,”

They reached the bottom of the cellar, magical lights flickered to life, and the room was filled with a soft yellow glow. Theo and Blaise looked around, and there were broken bottles of expensive elf wine all over the floor. Kegs that likely held aged rum or more wine were destroyed. The place was a disaster like a tornado had torn through the whole cellar.

“Damn, the Aurors really did a number on this place, didn’t they?” Theo said, kicking aside one of the many broken bottles.

“Yeah, no kidding, I don’t know how much luck we’ll have in finding a non-broken bottle. By the looks of it, they went out of their way to destroy every single thing in the entire house,” Blaise walked around looking for any sign of an intact bottle of wine.

Theo started moving broken barrels around, “You know you never answered my question,”

“The one about Draco?”

“Yeah,”

“I… I honestly don’t know Theo, I mean, Pansy was sure he was going to Azkaban,” Blaise said, looking down at the broken bottles. He remembered how hard Pansy was crying, she was begging for someone to spare Draco and Theo from going to Azkaban. He cried as he held her, silently begging with her.

“Yeah, you two were together during my trial. I only joined you afterward. You were both so excited to see me, I remember feeling scared that they wouldn’t treat Draco the same,” Theo said, his mind wandered to the hug he got from Pansy after being freed from custody.

“I remember seeing Potter right before Draco’s trial, and he was right after his father. No doubt the Ministry wanted a spectacle, he looked defeated almost. He was talking or rather arguing to Kingsley about something, I don’t know what they were arguing about, but I guess that it was for Potter to defend Draco in the trial,” Blaise walked over to a lone corner of the cellar and started lifting the rags and sheets, “But that’s not what you asked me… to be honest Theo I’m worried that he’s not going to be able to get through this… god sometimes I wish we all could get _a second chance_ ,” Blaise said, a crash came from the opposite corner of where Blaise was standing. Both he and Theo looked over quickly at what had made the sound.

“It could’ve been nice, right? I mean, all the wards got taken down, that means there aren’t any charms to prevent pests… right?” Theo spoke nervously, looking over at Blaise, who had started walking over. 

Blaise cautiously approached the corner, and he saw nothing but a pile of old drapes. He lifted the drapes and was greeted by a crate with a bottle of wine and four wine glasses. Blaise looked vaguely confused; why of all the places was a perfectly intact wine bottle with beautiful glasses just sitting here? Upon closer inspection, there was a rolled-up scroll tucked neatly in the crate. There was not a speck of dust or dirt on the glasses, it was just weirdly clean.

“What is it?” Theo asked, walking over; he followed Blaise’s gaze down to the crate, “Was this just sitting here the entire time?”

“Apparently? But it just looks so clean, doesn’t it?” Blaise kept looking at the crate in curiosity, he watched Theo take the bottle out to inspect it.

“It’s a name is called _Le Désir_ , it has a perfect age. Apparently, it's a perfect bottle for sharing with close friends this bottle was specially made with true friendship in mind…?” Theo trailed off, read the rest of the bottle.

Blaise looked at him confused; turning away from Theo, he looked at the glasses, which he was surprised to see that they had all of their names inscribed on them. He picked up the scroll, opening it revealed a message.

_For Draco, Pansy, Blaise, and Theo,_

_Few can say they have been through as many trials as you four have. It is a friendship that should be allowed to grow stronger. All of you have been through a lot; rather than ignoring each other for their mistakes, you have built them up._

_A friendship like yours is something few have,_  
_I hope you all cherish it._

_Thank you,_

_Désir_

Blaise reread the note; typically, anything like this would make him feel off. But he felt strangely thankful for the message; Theo had put the bottle back in the crate. He was now looking over Blaise’s shoulder at the note. “So Theo, what should we do?”

* * *

Draco felt the brush go through his hair; it was comforting. It reminded him of when she would brush through his hair at Hogwarts. They were best friends back at Hogwarts; everyone used to think they were dating back at Hogwarts when in reality, it couldn’t be further from the truth. Pansy and Draco were both gay; he remembered when she first told him worried he’d call her something awful. He had hugged her and said to her that he liked boys, they were both different from ‘normal’ kids. But they both kept up appearances, both too afraid to give their parents anything other than a perfect pureblood child.

“Hey, Draco?” Pansy asked, breaking the silence, “What do you think you're going to do now?”

“I don’t know, I doubt many people will like the whole ‘death eater’ thing. But I suppose if I were choosing, maybe a tailor? I certainly loved making my own clothes with you back then,” Draco replied, he leaned back into Pansy, who had pulled away from the brush and was now stroking her fingers through his hair.

“Oh, that could be fun, making clothes, but you’ve always enjoyed potions too,” 

“Yes, if I was really dreaming, then I would want to be a potions teacher like him,” the thought of  
Severus made Draco want to cry, he wishes he got to say goodbye to his godfather before he died.

Pansy hugged Draco as she saw tears, “He was a good man…”

“No, he wasn’t Pansy, and Severus knew that. He used to pick on children because he was bitter and resentful about the past. We all just stood by and watched because he used to praise us,” Draco told her, Severus had made it abundantly clear to him that he wasn’t the best person. Draco denied it, after all, he was treating his wounds after being tortured by his Aunt Bella. Draco knew his godfather wasn’t innocent, but maybe he could’ve been a better person if he was just given a chance.

Pansy looked down sorrowfully, “Yes, I suppose that is true. But that doesn’t mean he was all bad,” 

Draco hummed in agreement, he wasn’t all bad. He was the only reason Draco was still alive and not in pain every day from his nerves damaged by the torture he received. He wishes he could have at least said goodbye to him or maybe be a better godson.

Footsteps were heard approaching the room, the door opened to reveal Blaise and Theo. Theo was carrying a small crate with a bottle and wine glasses in them. “Hey, we found something!”

“We can see that Theo, where did you find that?” Pansy asked, Draco got up along with her to look at the crate. Theo set it on a small table, he lifted the wine and glasses out of the crate. Looking closer, the wine glasses with their names inscribed delicately on them. “These have our names on them,”

“Yes, we found them in the cellar, they were likely a gift from Draco’s mother. There is a note here if you would like to read it,” Blaise said, taking his own glass. He took out the scroll and handed it over to Draco, who opened it and read its contents.

“Le Désir? The Wish? What does that mean?” Draco asked, looking over the scroll with a confused look.

“Who knows but let’s just be thankful that we were able to find one at all,” Theo said, he carefully opened the bottle of wine. He poured some in all of their glasses.

Pansy looked down at the glass of wine, she clearly was apprehensive about the whole situation, “Are we sure this is safe? I don’t recall any elf or wizard wine with the name Désir, what if it hurts us?” 

“Pansy, the Aurors stripped the entire place of anything magical, I’m pretty sure if they were really looking, they would have found them and destroyed these,” Theo reasoned, setting down the glass.

“I suppose, but that still doesn't make it any less suspicious,” Pansy argued, “I'm just saying I don’t want us to drink some dark potion that will get us into trouble with the Aurors,”

“I doubt there are any potions in the wine, you know that most potions don’t mix well with alcohol,” Theo shot back, “Not to mention there were no signs that the bottle had been tampered with,” 

Pansy gave a huff, she was clearly not happy. She was less knowledgeable at potions due to her lack of interest in the subject. She was much better when it came to transfiguration, turning things into stuff she could use in making her own clothes.

“Now guys, calm down,” Blaise interrupted, coming in between the two, turning to Pansy, “Pansy, I know you are concerned, but in all likelihood, it was a gift left by Draco’s mother,” Theo gave Pansy a haughty smirk, only dropping it when Blaise looked at him, “And Theo, Pansy has every right to be worried about these things, you of all people should know how cautious she can be right now,”

Theo turned away, he gave a long sigh, “I’m sorry, Pansy, I just want all of us to relax after what we’ve gone through. I guess I let that cloud my judgment,”

“Yes, I suppose I was just worried about this whole situation,” Pansy picked up her glass, “I suppose we should enjoy this moment together as friends,”

Off to the side, Draco watched the whole back and forth between Pansy and Theo. He thought back to when Theo and Pansy would argue over the smallest things. They didn’t like each other like Weasley and Granger, but they were both passionate people.

“Doesn’t this remind you of something?” Blaise asked; Draco looked at him and smirked.

“Every other day with them,” Draco smiled when Blaise laughed.

“Well, I think it's about time we made a toast,” Blaise said, grabbing the attention of Pansy and Theo, “How about we toast to a second chance, to hopefully do better than when we were children,” he raised his glass beckoning the others.

“I can go for that,” Theo agreed, grabbing his glass and raised it up.

“Yes, I think that’s exactly what we need to focus on,” she grabbed her glass and raised it.

All Draco’s friends looked over at him expectantly, he walked towards his friends, raising his glass before saying, “A second chance, I think that is a wonderful thing to hope for. Not only that, but to move past this, we may have been on the wrong side. However, we know now that blood purity never mattered, not really. We will not be haunted by the mistakes of those and ourselves. So too a second chance, new beginnings, and to our friendship,” Draco finished, his friends smiled and clinked their glasses together. Draco swore he could see a sparkling bit of magic at that moment but chose to ignore it.

The rest of the night was spent talking to each other and drinking wine. The wine seemed to be far more potent than Draco had previously thought. Blaise, known to be a notoriously heavy drinker, seemed to get tipsy after just two glasses. Pansy and Theo were lightweights and were soon prancing around the room, singing badly. After the third and final drink, they got Draco to dance along with them. Draco felt a lot happier than he had in nearly two years, dancing with his friends like they were children. Soon they were all dancing and laughing, the wine even just after three glasses had done them in. After what felt like an hour, they were lying on Draco’s bed.

Draco stared up at the ceiling as thoughts began to consume him again, “Maybe if I hadn’t have been such a stuck-up brat, it could’ve gone somewhere. I wish I could go back and fix all this, maybe prevent my family from getting into this complicated mess,”

“We all do, Dray, we all want to go back, and I desperately wish that we all could go back,” Blaise said; Pansy and Theo hummed in agreement.

“A chance to go back and do better, to be on the right side,” Theo said wistfully, “It would be a dream come true, wouldn’t it?”

Pansy sighed, “It would be, maybe we would do better,”

“A true second chance would be a miracle, but alas, it's out of the realm of magic. But I suppose there’s no harm in wishing, right?” Draco asked; he grabbed the wine bottle that laid at the top of the bed, “Désir, I wish that my friends and I can go back and have a second chance,” there was muffled giggling. He could almost hear Blaise’s eyes rolling, “I, Draco Malfoy, wish for a second chance! Oh, a great bottle of wine, give us what we wish!” Draco exclaimed, a few minutes of silence go by before he chucks the bottle towards the wall and watches it shatter, “Well, it was worth a shot,”

Theo and Pansy burst into fits of laughter, Blaise could be heard groaning. Draco just smiled at his friend's reaction to his exaggerations. It was easier to laugh now and leave the pain for tomorrow, he knew that it would eventually have to be dealt with, but for now, this was fine.

“Well, I think it’s time for bed now,” Blaise said, everyone began to calm down. Pansy and Theo being the first to fall asleep. Blaise’s eye’s soon started to close, but he was quickly brought out of it when Draco spoke.

“Thank you for still being my friends,”

“We always will be, Dray now go to bed,” Blaise settled down, closing his eyes and allowing himself to rest. Draco smiled and closed his eyes, he hadn't known how tired he felt up until this moment.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So like, apparently I am really bad with time schedules. Because I tried like I really tried to get this posted yesterday and then promptly fell asleep at my computer watching youtube. So, I've messed up and am nearly two days late to update this. However, It is like 6,000 words long and it feels like I've overcompensated.

The first thing Draco felt as he slowly started to wake up was how warm he felt. The feeling was jarring to how the manor usually felt. Sitting up, he had noticed another thing; he felt much lighter. Normally he would expect a hangover and the pounding headache that usually came with it. But he felt none of that, which was jarring. Maybe if it was the wine, it was rather strong for wine. 

The next thing he noticed was the smell of pancakes? He recognized that smell, they were the pancakes his mother had made. She only ever made them on special occasions, usually Christmas morning, they were made completely by herself. Draco’s father always hated when she made them because it was too ‘muggle’ for his taste. Suddenly, his eyes bursting open at the realization that his mother was here.

_ ‘Why is she here! I told her it wasn’t safe anymore!’ _ Draco thought as he rubbed his eyes, blinking a couple of times as his eyes adjusted to the bright room. As he opened them he was hit with a wave of nostalgia at the sight of his old room, the dragons that he originally had painted on his walls were flying around the room. 

He was in awe at the sight of his much more childish bedroom, a room he truly hadn’t seen in years. Watching as the painted dragons chased each other around the room, nipping and blowing animated fire at one another. Looking at the shelves he saw the different little artifacts that he had been gifted over the years when he was young. A small potions kit that he had been a gift from his godfather, a stuffed dragon that his father had handmade with his mother before he was born. A beautiful green statue of a dragon was given to him by his mother in secret. Apparently, it was a gift from his aunt Andromeda, who he had later found out, had married a muggleborn.

He heard snoring next to him and looked over to see Theo or rather an eleven-year-old Theo. Draco’s eyes widened and his hands immediately flew over his mouth to stop himself from screaming. He quickly turned over to see Pansy and Blaise, both of whom looked like their eleven-year-old selves. Turning back to Theo, he started to shake him awake. 

“Theo!” Draco whispered/yelled, shaking him much harder.

Theo, to his credit, started to wake up, “Draco? What’s wrong?” Theo asked, his voice much younger, “Wait why does my voice sound funny?” 

“Theo I need you to promise me you won’t freak out,” Draco begged.

“Why should I? Wait did Pansy, Blaise, and you play a prank on me? And why does your voice sound weird?” Theo asked, he sat up and rubbed his eyes. He blinked a couple of times before having a confused look on his face, “Uh Draco? Why does your room look like this? I mean it looks like it did in first year,” Theo then turned to look at him and Draco swore if he wasn’t just as freaked out he would’ve laughed at his friend’s face of pure shock. 

“Theo…” Draco started slowly, “Don’t freak-” a loud scream erupted from Theo, “...out”

The scream was loud enough to startle awake both Blaise and Pansy, who were both frustrated at being woken up.

“Merlin Theo! Why are you screaming?! Do you even know what time it is? You sound just like you did in first year!” Pansy yelled, she sat up rubbing her eyes and looking over at Theo to no doubt glare at him for disturbing her. However, she took one good look at them, and any argument she had died right there. 

Blaise was the next to sit up, he blinked a few times, the first thing that caught his attention was Draco’s room, “Wait a second why does your room look like this I thought the Aurors stripped it of most of the magic?” Blaise asked before turning to look at Draco, his eyes much like Theo’s had bulged out and he looked just as shocked.

“D-Draco? Why… Why do you and Theo look like you are eleven?” Pansy asked hesitantly, almost as though she was afraid of the answer.

“I don’t know Pansy,” Draco said as calmly as he could manage, “I’m just as shocked as you,”

“Is that waffles I smell?” Blaise asked, “Like your mother’s waffles she made us when we had that sleepover at your house?”

“Yes, I think they are anyway,” Draco confirmed, he looked over at Theo who still looked like he was having a small heart attack, “Theo are you alright,”

Theo gave Draco one of the most baffled faces he could muster, “Do I look okay to you?!” he yelled.

“No, but that’s not the point you need to calm down,”

“Calm down?! Calm down?! What about this situation is alright with you?!”

“Theo we don’t know what is going on for all we know it could’ve been something to do with the wine!”

“The wine did this? I knew it! I knew it! Something was wrong with that wine!” Pansy exclaimed, she immediately gave Theo a hard glare, “I can’t believe you let us drink it!” turning around pointing a finger at Blaise, “And I can’t believe I let you talk me into drinking it!”

“Hey! How is this mine or Theo’s fault we didn’t know this would happen!” Blaise shot back, glaring just as hard as Pansy.

It was downhill from there, Pansy yelling about whose fault it was about the wine at Blaise. Theo yelling at Draco demanding to know what was going on. Draco tried to calm Theo down to no avail and Blaise just fought straight back with Pansy. The whole situation was just a mess as no one could truly be sure of what was happening. A knock at the door startled them out of the fight.

They all stopped and looked towards the door, Draco looked over at his friends who also weren’t sure who was at the door. Pansy mouthed to him ‘ _ Don’t _ ’, “Come in,” Draco said despite his better judgment.

“Draco?” a very familiar voice called out, “Are all of you little brats done fighting?” Draco nearly broke down into tears as he watched his godfather Severus walk through the door. Severus gave the children a rather confused look as he saw their equally shocked faces.

“Severus…?” Draco timidly asked, trying to comprehend seeing his supposedly dead godfather who looked very much alive.

“What? Why are all of you looking at me as though I was a ghost? Salazar help me if this is the way you are to act while you attend Hogwarts,” Severus sighed, “I merely came to wake you all up for breakfast, you all slept in quite late and your-” Severus was caught off guard by Draco who had ran straight over and hugged him.

“Severus!” Draco cried, tears beginning to fall from his face.

Severus who had clearly not been expecting Draco to do such a thing looked at a loss for what to do. Looking up he saw how the other children had reacted to his presence, Pansy and Theodore were both crying tears dripping down their faces. Blaise looked equally as sad but not enough to cry, Draco was bawling, he was hugging Severus afraid that if he were to let go he would disappear.

“Merlin children! What has gotten into you?” Severus asked, realizing that he might be in over his head, Severus did the only thing he could think of, “Dobby!” After saying the name, he felt Draco flinch as if the name brought fear into him. Severus had a feeling as though there was much more going on than he had thought.

A crack was heard by Severus and the four children, a small elf stood in front of them. “Yes, Master Snape?”

“I want you to go inform Lucius and Narcissa that the children have all seemed to have a rather… poor night's rest. I will ensure the children are okay but we will be late to breakfast,” Severus told Dobby, Dobby nodded and then disapparated away, “Now, do any of you want to tell me why you are acting like this?” 

For a few moments, the room stayed silent, until Draco spoke, “We had a nightmare,” he mumbled into Severus’s robes.

“Speak up boy, I can’t hear you when you talk into my robes,”

Draco pulled away from Severus and looked at him, “We had a nightmare,”

“A nightmare caused this reaction?” Severus asked doubtfully, Blaise, Pansy, and Theo all nodded agreeing with Draco, “I see, well I assume that you will be okay for the rest of the day?” they all responded with a nod, “Okay, well I’m very sorry that you had such a bad dream. However, you need to understand it was just a dream. Now hurry down, as all your parents are here for breakfast and we will be going out to fetch all your supplies for school,” Severus left the four of them standing there.

Draco watched as his godfather closed the door and walked away. His mind started racing around all the possibilities that could be happening. They had wine last night, probably did something stupid. But he just couldn’t think of what they had done, and not to mention he never could remember a sleepover the day he went to Diagon Alley. Draco wiped the tears from his face and began pacing around the room.

The three watched their friend pace around the room in deep thought. Pansy was trying to calm her tears, Theo looked as though he was still trying to get over the fact that their dead head of house was alive again. While took a deep breath, wiped his tears, and got up off the bed, “Dray you need to stop pacing, honestly, you are going to put a hole in the floor,” Blaise said, he walked over to Draco and stopped his friend from pacing, “Now let’s look around for some clues, maybe there is something here that can tell us what is going on,”

A sigh came out of Draco as he stopped pacing, “You’re right Blaise, let's look around and see if we can find something,” Blaise smiled at him, happy that he had helped.

“I’ll help,” Theo said, standing up and wiping his eyes he walked over to Draco, “I don’t know what is going on but whatever it is we need to fix it,”

The boys then looked at Pansy who was still sniffling, “Pans?” Draco started, “Do you still need a minute?” he asked carefully.

Pansy, to her credit, sniffled a few more times before getting up and walking toward her friends. She stood in front of Draco before giving him a tight hug, he immediately hugged her back allowing her to even her breathing. She pulled away and smiled at him, “Okay now I’m ready,”

“Alright, now just search around for anything that looks out of place, or wouldn’t normally be in Draco’s old bedroom,” Blaise told everyone, they all nodded and started searching around for anything that could be out of place in the bedroom. The first one to spot something was Pansy, she had been searching around in the bed to find the wine bottle but instead found a note.

“Hey! I found that note that was in the crate!” Pansy exclaimed quickly opening it, her face went from excitement to confusion as she read the note.

“Well? What’s wrong Pansy?” Theo asked, walking over to her and looking over her shoulder, “It looks like a spell?”

“It does? Let me have a look at it,” Blaise asked, taking the letter that was handed to him by Pansy. Looking over the letter also brought a frown of confusion as Blaise reread the letter.

“Well? Blaise?” Draco asked expectantly, it felt as though they were all holding their breaths.

“I’ll read it,” Blaise said,

_ “To guard your souls through your wish,  _

_ Custoanima” _

At first, nothing happened, and then the note burst into blue flames and flew straight out Draco’s opened window. The four rushed over to see the blue flame take the appearance of a white wolf. As soon as the wolf appeared it immediately fell down in the grass. The wolf laid in the grass not moving, the four of them looked at each other. None of them were sure what to do.

“Well… Should we go down and help it?” Theo asked, looking back towards the wolf, “I mean the letter did say it was our guard,”

“Are you crazy Theo?! What if it hurts us?” Pansy exclaimed, “Don’t tell me you believe that letter, Blaise?!”

Blaise shrugged, “Honestly Pansy, I’m not sure what I should or shouldn’t believe in. What do you think Drac-” Blaise stopped when he had turned to look at where Draco had previously been, “Uh Draco?” Blaise looked towards the door as he saw Draco running out.

“Well there’s your answer,” Theo said before running out after Draco.

Pansy’s mouth opened and she grunted in frustration before booking it after the boys, “You two get back here! Don’t just go running into danger! Don’t act like a Gryffindor!” she yelled as she ran out of the room.

Blaise stood there and rolled his eyes before running right after them shouting, “Wait Pansy don’t kill them!”

* * *

Draco pushed the doors of the manor opened and started running towards the wolf. He wasn’t sure why he was so determined to get there but he just had to. He heard his friends running after him, Pansy was shouting at him to slow down but he just couldn’t stop. Finally, he reached the spot where the wolf was and fell to his knees. He felt nauseous after running so quickly, considering he was only eleven years old. He looked down at the white wolf, it was breathing, Draco could see the wolf’s chest slowly rise and fall. The wolf’s eyes slowly blinked open, the wolf seemed to look around to evaluate its surroundings. Theo, Blaise, and Pansy finally caught up with Draco, each of them was gasping for breath. No doubt they had felt the same fire in their lungs as Draco did.

The wolf looked at them as it sat up, tilting its head to the side curiously. Draco was now able to see the wolf in full detail, it was not white so much as it was a more silverish color. Its eyes were a gray color with bits of gold, black fur outlined its eyes making them look bigger. The wolf sniffed the air and then looked at Draco like it expected him to do something. Draco decided to cautiously reach his hand out towards the wolf, carefully allowing the creature to sniff his hand. The wolf began licking Draco’s palm and its tail wagging much more.

“Draco?” Pansy asked, she was now standing next to him watching him and the wolf.

“Here Pansy it's harmless,” Draco assured, grabbing her hand and pulling it towards the wolf allowing it to sniff her hand. The wolf soon began to lick her hand as well, Pansy giggled at the sensation but when pulling away she looked like regretted the dog slobber on her hand. Theo and Blaise who had been standing aside watching them came up and did the same thing.

“So this wolf is our guardian?” Theo asked, “He sure is beautiful,” 

Blaise scratched the wolf’s head and smiled, “That he is, I’ve never seen a coat as silver like this,”

“This still doesn’t explain what is going on or why we still woke up at Draco’s place. I don’t ever recall us having a sleepover until at least second year,” Pansy said, “Isn’t it weird that we woke up in Draco’s bed still? Professor Snape just said that we had received our Hogwarts letters. We weren’t even really friends until second year.”

“Pansy right Draco, wherever we are it is not the same as our world,” Blaise explained, “If it was we would’ve woken up in our own beds. I mean, my mother wouldn’t have even let me spend the night anywhere.”

“So what do you think happened?” Theo asked.

“You got your wish,” a young man’s voice came from the wolf, Draco immediately hopped to his feet and stumbled backward with his friends who had already stepped back. The wolf gave it a confused look, “What? Do I have something on my face?”

“Y-y-you talk!” Pansy shouted, she had a look of bafflement on her face.

“Of course I talk! Why wouldn’t I?” the wolf asked, standing up and stretching, “Your wizards aren’t you? So why are you surprised by a talking wolf?”

“Sorry that we’ve never seen a talking wolf before,” Blaise answered, “Unless you’re an animagus which I still find hard to believe as wizards can’t talk in animagus form!”

The wolf seemed to consider what Blaise said, “Fair enough,” the wolf relented, “I suppose it was a bit presumptuous that you wouldn’t be confused, I’m sorry”

“I appreciate the apology, but that still doesn’t explain what is going on,” Blaise said, he stepped closer to the wolf, “Unless you can tell us,”

“Please…?” Theo, who was hiding behind Pansy, piped in.

“Well since you asked so nicely, or at least one of you did, I’ll tell you,” the wolf said, “My name is Rigel and I am your guardian,”

“Rigel? Like the star?” Draco asked.

“Yes, don’t bother asking for my last name because I don't remember. I don’t remember a lot of things, but I was trapped in there until someone else made a wish with Désir,”

“Wait, there is someone allowing this to happen?” Blaise asked skeptically, “Why? Isn’t it dangerous to send someone back into the past?”

Rigel nodded in agreement, “It is if you send them back to their past, they could potentially wreak havoc and change the future.”

“So why send us back in the first place?” Blaise argued, “Couldn’t we mess up time and space?”

Draco had been in deep thought before his eyes snapped open, “We’re not in our past are we?”

Rigel laughed, “Now you're getting it!”

“But wait wouldn’t that imply that we are somewhere else? How does that make sense?” Theo questioned, he looked towards Draco, “This couldn’t be like a different world could it?”

“Good job kid, now you're catching up, you're in a new world. Désir found that this world is doomed, but that you four have the potential to save it,” Rigel said cryptically.

“What do you mean we have to save it?” Pansy asked.

“This world is doomed to fall to Voldemort,” the four flinched at the mention of the name, “I’m going to assume you already know that is bad. But Désir, she believes you can save it,”

“How? If the world’s destiny is already laid out how can we change it?!” Draco yelled, “We barely made it out of the last war alive? What makes you think we’ll be able to save this one?”

Rigel looked as though he was about to answer but stopped as a crack was heard behind them, the four of them turned around to see Dobby standing there. He looked like he was going to say something but was surprised by the appearance of the wolf. Rigel looked at them and started running away. Draco snapped his head around to watch Rigel run into the forest.

“Hey! Wait a minute where are you going?!” Draco shouted, but he received no answer as Rigel made his way into the dense forest, “Fuck,” Draco muttered shaking his head.

“U-uh, Master Draco?” Dobby spoke, gaining the attention of Draco, “I is apologizing for scaring the wolf,” Dobby said meekly.

Draco shook his head and gave Dobby a weak smile, “It’s fine Dobby, it wasn’t your fault. Now, what did you want to tell us?”

Dobby looked happy at not getting in trouble, “A-ah yes, Mistress Narcissa and Master Lucius were wondering where you were. They told Dobby to fetch Master Draco and his friends,” He told them, Dobby then disapparated.

“Well should we go?” Theo asked, coming out from behind Pansy, “Snape said that all of our parents are here, we shouldn’t try to act too differently.”

Pansy nodded in agreement, “Right if anything that wolf said to us is true then we need to expect something different.”

“As much as I would hate for Rigel to be right, everything does seem to line up. I mean it does explain why I am here and, if Professor Snape is to be believed, why my mother is here,” Blaise said, they all looked at Draco who turned to look at them.

“You guys are right, we also need to figure out what kind of world this is. Rigel won’t be any help and we can’t rely on him. Now let’s go so we don’t keep our ‘parents’ waiting,” Draco said, he began walking with the others following close behind.

* * *

The four walked into the manor and headed towards the dining room, Draco stopped them when he heard the adults talking. Peeking their head just enough so that the four adults wouldn’t see them, Theo nearly gasped when he saw his father, he looked much younger then he did in their world. He looked incredibly handsome for his old age, with thick brown hair with strands of grey going through them. He was much older than the other adults but only by maybe a few years. Draco could see that his father was wearing his hair up in a bun, something silver was holding it in place, it looked vaguely like a snake. Pansy’s father wasn’t much different other than the glasses that he wore. Severus was sitting next to Draco’s father telling him about what had transpired in Draco’s bedroom.

“A nightmare?” Draco recognized that voice, his father.

“That’s what your son told me,” Severus said, taking a sip of his tea, “They looked at me like I was a ghost,”

“The children probably stayed up to late last night, I suppose that might’ve contributed to their nightmare,” Lucius Malfoy said, taking a bite of the pancakes, Draco saw his mother walk out of the kitchen carrying another plate of pancakes, “Might I say Narcissa you’ve outdone yourself this time with the pancakes,” he said taking another bite of them, “I do so love when you make them without the elves,” Lucius complemented, well this was about as much proof as Draco needed for this being a different world.

“Thank you, Lucius, now if only the children would join us and eat some,” she said, setting down another plate of pancakes. Draco smiled at the sight of his mother, she looked a lot happier than she ever did in their world. Maybe his dad wasn’t a total abusive git in this world.

“Narcissa, don’t worry about the children,” Antonio Nott comforted, he took a small cup of syrup and poured it over his pancakes, “Lucius is probably right, they likely stayed up too late and just worried themselves enough to give them nightmares. I will tell you I was terrified after I had received my letter. Worried myself up a wall at getting the right supplies, I was a nervous wreck,” he said before taking a bite out of his pancakes. 

“You would Antonio, when I first received my letter I wasn’t nervous at all,” Darcio Parkinson boasted, “I had never doubted my skills as a wizard, I was confident all the way through,”

“What he won’t tell you is that he had to go to St. Mungo’s because he threw up due to nerves after he received his letter to Hogwarts,” Briallen Parkinson said, giggling at the snort that came from her husband. Laughter came from Lucius, Antonio, and Narcissa, even a smirk from Severus. Draco glanced at Pansy’s face, she wasn’t used to her parents joking. According to her they barely tolerated each other. She could definitely see the changes with her mother who was smiling and kissing her husband who blushed bashfully.

“My darling Prim, why’d you have to tell them that?” he asked, sighing as he took a sip from his tea, “Now they think I’m a fool,” his face contorted into a pout, Briallen shook her head and rolled her eyes before giving her husband another kiss on the cheek. Pansy smiled sadly, she wished she had grown up with this version of her parents. Ones who loved each other dearly and weren’t afraid to show it.

“At least you are my fool,” she said, giving him another kiss on the cheek.

“See Narcissa this is exactly what I was telling you about, look at how gross those two love birds are. It’s positively dreadful,” Verena Zabini said, she walked from the kitchen and sat next to Narcissa, “This is why I never stand around you two at galas because it always devolves into you two snogging each other like a couple of teenagers,” 

Blaise inhaled sharply, that was his mother. Verena was a known hermit around the pureblood community, due to the fact she rarely ever went anywhere other than a few galas. She was surrounded in controversy due to the death of not only his dad but also the death of all of his step-fathers. Something that really caught his eye is she was wearing the star sapphire pendant his father had given her. She’d thrown it out after he died, Blaise wasn’t ever able to find it afterward.

“Oh Darcio, wouldn’t it be lovely to go back to students again?” Briallen asked wistfully, “sneaking around late at night,”

“Right after curfew, running away from our head of house when we were inevitably caught,” Darcio remarked fondly, he pulled her in for another kiss, much to the displeasure of Verena.

“Ugh,” Verena groaned, “Now where are those children of ours?” Verena asked looking around, “Have they not awoken yet?”

Severus sighed, setting his tea down he looked over towards Verena, “They are awake but there was a bit of an incident. It seems the children had a nightmare, Draco had cried into my robes like it was the last time he was going to see me,” Severus explained to Verena and Briallen, “In fact, all of the children were crying, it was rather strange, they all agreed that it was just a nightmare, but...” Severus trailed off.

“But it was just too strange considering how happy they were yesterday?” Verena asked, 

Severus nodded and stayed silent for a few seconds, the room went silent watching Severus think, “They looked haunted,” Severus finally answered.

“Haunted? They are just children Severus, you say that as though something happened in the middle of the night,” Darcio retorted, “My Pansy is a lovely child, her eyes will be as bright today as they were yesterday,” Darcio assured, taking a bite out of his pancakes. Pansy smiled at her father’s compliment, she was not used to such praise from her father.

“Yes, I agree with Darcio, Theodore might not have a mother but he has always had Verena, Briallen, and Narcissa there for a little womanly encouragement. My late wife, bless her soul, insisted that Verena be Theo’s godmother. Rightfully so I might add,” Antonio smiled cheerfully at Verena, who gave him a small smile in return, “Why I bet those kids will come barreling down those steps any minute now!” Theo was gobsmacked, he looked over to Blaise who looked just as surprised as he was.

Severus rolled his eyes, “Why do I even bother with the man Lucius?” he asked Lucius who smiled while Antonio gave an unimpressed look.

“Because he is the only person brave enough to help you experiment with potions,” Lucius replied, giving him another smile. All he received, in turn, was a pair of rolled eyes, Lucius took out a copy of the Daily Prophet and began reading. 

The four of them pulled away from their peeking spot, “Well I think we should go upstairs and get dressed, seeing as we have things that need discussing,” Draco suggested, they all nodded in agreement, “Okay come one,” they immediately started running, past the doorway catching the adults attention. 

* * *

They made it up to Draco’s bedroom, quickly slamming the door shut, “Okay, so alternate world confirmed?” Theo asked.

“Definitely, my mother had the star sapphire that my birth father gave her. She threw it out after he died” Blaise said, “She is completely different from my mother in our world,”

Pansy looked down sadly, “They were so loving towards each other,” 

Theo went over and hugged her, “It’ll be okay Pansy, this will be difficult for us all to adjust to,” 

“I know, I just wonder why they couldn’t always be like that? Why couldn’t my parents love each other,” she cried, tears slowly falling down her face.

Draco and Blaise joined Theo in hugging Pansy, the four of them stayed there for a few moments, before Blaise pulled away, “As nice as this all is, we still have to get dressed and go downstairs,”

All of them pulled away and began getting dressed, Pansy, much to the insistence of the boys, went into Draco's bathroom and began getting dressed. Draco put on a white button-up shirt along with a green vest with embroidered snakes on it. Theo was wearing a black shirt with a tight-fitting robe that was similar to a trench coat. Blaise was also wearing a black shirt but instead of a green vest similar to Draco’s, it was a midnight blue vest with silver embroidery.

Draco walked around to the large full-length mirror and looked at his reflection. He gave a rather unimpressed look, “You know normally when I dress it would be with something more pleasing, but none of my fun clothes are here,”

“Cheer up Draco, you look great!” Theo complimented, “I know we all look a little younger than we feel, but we can’t change that,”

“I don’t know Theo, I miss my earring that I had,” Blaise said, he then walked over to the bathroom door and knocked, “Hey Pansy, are you ready yet?”

“Yes!” she replied cheerfully, Pansy stepped out of the bathroom and showed her friends her dress. She was wearing an emerald green dress, silver outlines of flowers lined the bottom of the dress. In her hair, she was wearing beautiful snake hair clips holding them out of her face.

“Pansy! You look amazing!” Theo said, rushing over to look at her hair, “Oh these silver snakes are really pretty! Now I’m jealous,” 

“Wonder which house they want us in,” Draco whispered over to Blaise.

“Gryffindor?” Blaise snickered back, both of them started laughing.

“What are you two laughing about?” Pansy asked, a pouted look on her face.

“How on the nose our parents are with what house they want us to be in,” Blaise remarked.

Pansy raised her eye before realizing what they meant, “I suppose they aren’t exactly subtle, well at least Blaise isn’t wearing green.”

“No I’m not, but midnight blue is a lovely color on me though,” he gave Pansy a bright smile.

Giggling she shoved her hand in his face pushing him away, “Maybe but we should get downstairs, we don’t need them thinking that we’re even weirder than we were before. So remember we all just had terrible nightmares because we stayed up too late,”

They all nodded and headed downstairs towards the dining room. Once there they say next to each other.

“So, Severus told us that you all had a bit of a situation this morning. What happened?” Antonio asked the kids who had started to finally eat breakfast.

At first, they were silent, looking between each other nervously. Theo seemed a bit braver and decided to talk, “We… uh… had a nightmare? I mean we all had different nightmares, but you know still were pretty out of it,” Theo’s voice reeked with insecurity, as though he wasn’t even sure of his answer.

Their parents didn’t look to be won over either, each giving rather concerned looks, “You don’t look so sure of that Theodore,” Verena said, looking over at him. Poor Theo looked even more unsure when facing Blaise’s mother.

Draco sighed loudly, catching the attention of Blaise’s mother along with the rest of the adults, “Sorry this morning was mostly my fault, I was the one who had a bad dream. It seems I might have scared the others as well.”

Draco looked at Pansy, she looked as though she was smiling sweetly. Unfortunately, Draco knew the look of that smile. Something told him he would have a bit of an ear lashing from her later. 

“What do you mean Draco?” his father asked, he even sounded nicer now. Merlin’s beard was his actual father a bastard.

Draco knew he probably shouldn’t have said something but poor Theo might’ve caved under the pressure, “I had a nightmare, I guess nerves just got to me about going to Hogwarts,”

“What happened Dragon?” his mother asked in her sweet voice, Merlin he hadn’t realized how much he missed her calling him that.

“I don’t know the thought of being away from you two for so long. I know Severus will be there but… in the nightmare there was no one at all, and I was all alone,” he shared, Draco would like to say that he pulled it out of his ass but that wouldn’t be true. He had felt alone after the war, his father went mad, his mother had to leave for her own safety, and he thought his friends hated him. He hadn’t even realized he was crying until he felt his father and mother hug him.

“Oh my little Dragon, you’ll be alright, don’t cry,” his mother soothed, running her fingers through his hair.

“It’s alright Draco, you’ll be fine at Hogwarts. If you feel lonely you may always send your mother and I some letters,” his father suggested a general smile on his face.

Draco nodded, wiping away at the tears, “Thank you, Pansy, Blaise, and Theo reassured me I wasn’t alone, they are really great friends.”

His parents detracted their hug and sat back down. His friends and he shared a smile, maybe this world wouldn’t be so bad.

“Oh, Cissy! I’m here!” a very familiar voice called out. Okay, maybe they spoke a little too soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if it feels a bit stiff in some parts or drawn out. For me, some of the parts are like that but maybe I'm just being hard on myself. 
> 
> Also I looked but I couldn’t find the name for Pansy’s, Blaise’s, or Theo’s parents name so I found these ones for them. I feel like On Pansy mother’s side of the family they have a tradition of naming their girls after flowers. Briallen apparently means “a primrose” in Welsh which is cool. 
> 
> Anyway I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading the first chapter!


End file.
